Breathe Again
Title: Breathe Again
Author: Diane
Pairing: Logan/Veronica
Rating: Teen Rated
Disclaimer: I don’t own a thing!
Summary: Logan’s thoughts during that scene at the Sadie Hawkins dance
Spoilers: Makes specific reference of a scene in episode 2x17 so everything up to then just to be on the safe side.
Author's Notes: This is just a little cheesy, fluffy thing I came up with last night after watching and re-watching a particular scene from this week's episode numerous times.
Thanks to Brynne for all of her help with this.
Holding her in his arms, Logan felt himself breathe…really breathe for the first time in a long while and his hands which were lightly resting on her hips added a little more pressure, needing to reassure himself that this was actually happening and wasn’t just another figment of his overactive imagination.
His lips tugged upwards in a smirk when he caught sight of Gia pouting from across the room and he felt like he should thank her for her inane and incredibly annoying chattering which he knew was the only reason for him currently being on the dance floor with the object of his affections. He knew only too well that Veronica could envision how he was going to answer the brunette’s question hence her swift action for getting him away from her.
The feel of his ex-girlfriend’s gentle hands locked around the back of his neck was something he didn’t think he’d be feeling…well, ever again if he was being totally honest. Where at first he could feel the tension in her arms, as the song continued to play he felt them relax around him and her fingers actually stroked back and forth along his skin. He was suddenly reminded of a summer that seemed a million years ago; a time when her blunt fingernails would dig into the back of his neck as she held him tightly to her while his lips kissed her mouth and throat before they worked their way south.
Logan looked down and caught Veronica watching him and their eyes locked for a moment before she averted her gaze and looked to the side, watching her fellow classmates with their dates.
He wanted to say something…anything but his mind was a complete blank. Okay, that technically wasn’t true. There were a thousand things he wanted to say but he just didn’t know how to vocalize them. His usual snark and biting wit which he found usually helped at times like these seemed to have deserted him.
As their bodies swayed to the music, he was mentally calculating roughly how long he had left with her before the song ended and she disentangled herself from him; returning to her task that evening of snapping all of the seemingly happy couples that were surrounding them. So busy doing that was he that he missed it when she moved a step closer to him but he didn’t miss the slight tightening of her arms or the way her fingers were now running through the short hair at the nape of his neck. It took all of his willpower not to release the moan he could feel building in his throat at her ministrations.
When their eyes locked again, Veronica didn’t look away. Instead, she kept her eyes firmly trained on his and he watched as her lips curved up into what he could only describe as a soft smile. Her blue eyes, which for a while now had held an icy disdain for him, appeared warmer than usual and he felt that familiar tug in his chest. Without realising he was doing it, his hands moved from her hips to wrap around her waist and he pulled her in closer. He waited for her rebuke but it didn’t come and he released a quiet sigh of relief.
Veronica tilted her head back slightly and pushing herself up on her tiptoes brought her mouth close to Logan’s ear whereupon she whispered, “I’ve missed you.”
He wanted to repeat the words to her, letting her know that he felt the same but his mouth is dry and the words just wouldn’t come. The song was beginning to fade, telling him and everyone else that it’ll soon be over and he could feel the panic inside of him begin to rise. If he didn’t say something and soon he knew she was going to walk away thinking this didn’t mean anything to him and she couldn’t be more wrong. It meant everything.
Opening his mouth to speak, he was surprised when Veronica placed her fingertips over his lips and prevented him from saying anything.
“It’s okay,” she said quietly, pausing for a moment before continuing, “I know.”
His heart thumped wildly in his chest as he scrambled to say something but again, he was coming up blank. What the hell is happening to me, he asked himself. What is it about Veronica Mars that had the ability to render him speechless at the most inopportune times when, at the very least, he usually had something biting and acerbic to come back at her with.
It was almost like she could read his mind when her smile turned into a smirk and she teased, “Cat got your tongue?”
He laughed, relieved that he had finally managed to make a sound. “Nope, but you can have it if you want?” he threw back and was pleased when a light blush coloured her cheeks.
“Really?” she asked, one perfectly arched eyebrow raised.
Logan felt a flicker of heat run through him at her playful tone and he felt the urge to press his lips against hers and kiss her the way he’d wanted to kiss her for months. Their bathroom, the one she made good use of with her trusty ‘Out of Order’ sign, isn’t that far away and he wondered how she would take it if he suggested using it to continue this discussion. From the teasing twinkle in her eyes, he guessed she wouldn’t be completely adverse to his suggestion. “Sure, since I seem to remember you having a fondness for that particular…”
“Right,” she quickly interjected, cutting him off.
Her laugh reassured him that he hadn’t got her back up like was so often the case with them. There were and still are times when he isn’t sure just how far to push that envelope and he is reminded once again of all the mean and hurtful things he said and did to her not so long ago.
Their faces have somehow moved even closer together and it’s not going to take much for either one of them to close the small gap separating them.
“So, do you want it?” Logan teased, watching the clear blue of her eyes darken that little bit more.
“Maybe…” Veronica’s breathing had gotten a little heavier too, he noticed as he took in everything about her.
Their lips were a mere hair’s breadth away when he noticed someone standing to the side of them and turning his head to look at them, he had a ready scowl fixed on his face which didn’t lessen when he saw who the person was.
Veronica looked at Logan with a confused expression on her face before she, too, turned her head to the side to see what he was looking at.
“What?” he asked.
“I need to go to the bathroom," Gia informed him.
“And you’re what, asking my permission?”
Veronica lowered her gaze and bit her bottom lip to stop herself from laughing at Logan’s sarcastic question.
Gia shook her head. “No, I just need you to watch the desk while I’m gone,” she replied.
Sighing and mumbling something under his breath, he said, “Fine. Could you just give me a minute or is this, like, an emergency?”
“I’ll wait over by the desk,” the brunette told him before turning on her heel and making her way back through the crowded dance floor.
Veronica’s hands were no longer wrapped around Logan and he acutely felt the loss of her warmth.
“I’d guess you’d better go and…”
“Yeah. Thanks for, uh, rescuing me from her by the way,” he quipped, his smirk back in place.
“It was my pleasure.”
“Was it now?”
“Bad choice of words,” she replied playfully.
“No, I think those were exactly the words you wanted to use.”
“Ah, I guess you’ll never know.”
They stood there in silence for a minute or two before he finally plucked up the courage to ask her what he’d been wanting to ask ever since she asked him to dance. “Can I call you sometime?”
Thinking about it for a split second, she smiled at him and nodded. “Yeah, I think I’d like that.”
“Okay. I’d better--”
She nodded her head in agreement. “I’ll talk to you later, then.”
“Yeah, you will.”
Logan watched as she took a few steps away from him and when she stopped and turned back to face him, he was worried she was going to take back what she’d just said.
“Logan?”
“Yeah?”
“Just try to ignore Gia.”
He laughed before answering, “Easier said than done, Mars.”
“Believe me, I know.”
Once again, he watched her walk away until she was out of sight before he headed back to the desk and, for the second time that night, he felt himself breathe easier. Who knows, maybe one day in the not too distant future, his breathing would fully return to normal.
Fin